


These the shortened days and endless nights

by jetsam



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: 100-1000 Words, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-07
Updated: 2010-11-07
Packaged: 2017-10-13 02:38:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/131903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jetsam/pseuds/jetsam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Echizen hates the first winter back in America</p>
            </blockquote>





	These the shortened days and endless nights

Echizen hates the first winter back in America. He leaves home in the dark and comes home in the dark; the back-garden tennis court is too soft to use, the local hard courts are too soggy and the indoor courts are a long bus journey away.

Sometimes he goes for a run in the evenings – for lack of anything better to do and knowing what Tezuka would say if he let his fitness slip. It's a lonely way to train and he scowls to find himself longing for the familiar sound of someone else's feet pounding along beside him, for easy chatter around him and large hands ruffling his hair.

He gets a proper two-day weekend here and it's spent almost entirely on court because even his father is itching for something to do as December draws on. Even so, the days start late even by Echizen's standards and end early, leaving the evenings stretching out.

He thinks almost nostalgically of evenings at Taka-san's sushi place. The kids at his school settled into groups long before he arrived: they have no time for an antisocial tennis prodigy with little interest in football or baseball, and even less in pop culture.

Echizen's mother has promised they'll spend the long summer holiday in Tokyo. He has a calendar in his room and he's bored enough to count the days. He hadn't thought it possible but he finds he's looking forward to opponents who'll call him 'brat' and make him work for his wins.


End file.
